Gretchen Hoffman
The city has received more than $2.7 million of the green stuff to
increase the amount of green space and youth services through the
construction of a recreation center and a mini-park in southeast
Glendale.
Gov. Gray Davis announced the grants Wednesday, part of $42.2
million earmarked for 44 inner-city projects across the state as part
of the Murray/Hayden Youth Services Grant Program of Proposition 12.
The funding is targeted at areas with a critical lack of parks and
open space, significant poverty and unemployment and at-risk youth.
Children and teens in southeast Glendale will soon have a safe
place to go after school with the awarding of $2.26 million for a New
Horizons Family Youth Recreation Center at 744 S. Glendale Ave. The
center will include outdoor play areas, child-care and after-school
programs, arts and crafts, a computer lab, parent education and peer
counseling.
"There is nothing right now for the children of south Glendale,"
said Maria Rochart, executive director and founder of the New
Horizons Family Center. "Having this facility right in the middle of
a census tract that has the poorest, and many immigrants, will make a
huge difference."
Assemblyman Dario Frommer (D-Glendale) was instrumental in getting
the grant, she said.
"He supported us from day one," she said. "He was our cheerleader
all the way through."
She said she hopes the center will be up and running early next
year.
The city also received a $494,500 grant to create a 1/3-acre
mini-park with a playground, trees and a small plaza in the 1300
block of Windsor Avenue.
"It's so congested down here," said Don Zabinski, an
administrative analyst with the city Department of Parks. "There is a
shortage of park land in the city and it has been difficult to
acquire that property."
It is the city's fourth mini-park in the last 12 years.
"We're targeting the poorest of the poor that had a severe
shortage of alternatives," said Ruth Coleman, acting director of the
state Department of Parks and Recreation.
